Down the Rabbit Hole. Sort of.

Okay, so introductions are always awkward. (And I have several “Hi class, this is Shayla, she’s new and just moved here” grade school experiences to attest to that.) So, I’m going to do everyone a huge favor by skipping all the fumbling and rambling and get to heart of what this is.

This is Uglification, my fashion blog — the genre is a work in progress, alright. But for those of you who aren’t Lewis Carroll aficionados, or are indeed Alice herself, then you might say:

“I never heard of Uglification,” Alice ventured to say. “What is it?”

The Gryphon lifted up both its paws in surprise. “Never heard of uglifying!” it exclaimed. “You know what to beautify is, I suppose?”

“Yes,” said Alice, doubtfully: it means—to—make—anything—prettier.”

“Well, then,” the Gryphon went on, “if you don’t know what to uglify is, you are a simpleton.”

Okay, but I will give you guys the benefit of the doubt and say you are not simpletons. (Peasants. I’m kidding.) Now I’m not calling my personal style ‘ugly’ — though I won’t presume that everyone will have the same opinion of it — just that it’s been known not to follow the norm. I still remember the disbelief on my face when I first heard that you shouldn’t wear black and brown together. Seriously, who came up with that rule? All I can say is, if my wardrobe had a tag line it would be “challenge accepted.” Anyway, what I’m getting at is I don’t look at beauty in the most conventional ways. But who really does these days?

Actually, when the Gryphon was explaining Uglifcation, it was referring to math, which could mean my entire argument is invalid. At least Carroll would approve of this silliness.

So, why all this Lewis Carroll inspiration? I wish I could say I grew up on the books (and if you were a child of the nineties and you are saying that, then you are filthy liar), but like all ’90s kiddies, I had my love of Disney movies. Alice in Wonderland was at the top of mine. However, I can say that some of my most vivid memories of my Nana’s house was listening to the vinyl soundtrack on her record player. Aw yeah, a hipster before my own time. And whenever she came over my house, we used to play around this pipe that stuck out of the ground in our backyard; we used to shout into it and talk to the ‘white rabbit.’ It seems inevitable that the books came after I grew up.

Literally. I went there. (SDCC ’09)

I loved the imagination and the nonsense; the made-up language and fanciful feeling in every adventure. It’s more than psychedelic mushrooms and go ask Alice when she’s ten feet tall. I like to think the essence of those stories and what I love about them is what I put into my own style every day. Yes, even the shouting into pipes part. The way I see it, I could make an outfit out of every line in Carroll’s stories. Which I did, or I’m still trying to. It always ties back to good ol’ curious Alice. (Thaaat’s me.)

Before my own words run off without me, I just want to end this by saying I’m not so absorbed that I’m standing in front of a rack at Forever 21 going, wow that totally gives off a Queen of Hearts vibe. Only sometimes guilty of that. My outlook on fashion is hardly limited, but we always want to know the origin story, don’t we? So, that’s how I got fell into my own eclectic rabbit hole of prints and polka dots and everything in between.